More Snake News

The snake that Steve received via express delivery yesterday didn’t come with a surgically implanted radio transmitter. But some bull snakes in Saskatchewan are currently in the process of being equipped with such devices as part of a scientific project to monitor their population and movements to better understand how they, as cold-blooded animals, are able to survive in such an unforgiving climate where temperatures, for at least six months of the year, are usually below the freezing mark.

One finding that scientists have already made is that bull snakes, which are non-venomous constrictors that squeeze their prey to death and can grow to two-metres in length, maintain both a winter home (typically an underground den) and a summer breeding site as part of their territory.

Learn more in this CBC report that features some video of the scientists (and snakes) in action.

Share this:

Author: Gregory Beatty

Greg Beatty is a crime-fighting shapeshifter who hatched from a mutagenic egg many decades ago. He likes sunny days, puppies and antique shoes. His favourite colour is not visible to your puny human eyes. He refuses to write a bio for this website and if that means Whitworth writes one for him, so be it.
View all posts by Gregory Beatty

8 thoughts on “More Snake News”

The archaeological crew I was on in SW SK decades ago had experience of bull snakes. They are incredibly strong: a male crew member gripping one’s tail had both feet braced against a vertical gully wall, and still couldn’t keep the snake from escaping into its burrow. The folk wisdom of the area had it that where there are bull snakes, there will be no rattlers, which was fine by us.

The relative of a bull snake that’s currently acclimating to Saskatchewan in my apartment has a pretty damn strong grip. He also seems to have multiple personalities. One of them is lazy old hound dog friendly, the other rivals Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

But why? Snakes aren’t pets. They’re wild animals. This makes as much sense as people having tarantula as pets. There is a ban on exotic animals, there should be a ban on keeping wild animals in a domestic environment where they do not belong.

I would be happy to bring Rusty (a 15 or 16 year-old corn snake) to the shop some day, if you’d like to meet him.

P.S. Tarantulas can be awesome too. I was petting one (an eight-year-old captive bred specimen named Melissa) at the pet store today.

P.P.S. Many exotic animal bans are ignorant and ridiculous. No one wants it to be legal for Joe no-nothing to keep cobras in an apartment but there are a lot of captive-bred “exotic” animals that make excellent companions/pets for the right people. For instance, ball pythons–a small, harmless, commonly-bred species that does well in captivity–are illegal in Saskatchewan. It’s bonkers. There’s real problems to fix in the world.